Former CEU professor earns top ranking by Financial Times

Polish economist Jacek Rostowski has been ranked second in the annual Financial Times list of the EU’s best financial ministers. Rostowski, a professor in CEU’s economics department, has been on leave from the University since his appointment as Poland’s finance minister in 2006.

Poland was the only EU country to avoid last year’s recession, due in part because of Rostowski’s well-crafted spending cuts, according to the FT. The newspaper’s ranking is based on three categories: political ability, economic performance and market credibility. Rostowski was ranked behind Germany’s Wolfgang Schauble for his overall performance. He also earned the top rank in the "economic performance" category, which measures recovery in terms of gross domestic product compared with the pre-crisis peak, deficit level for the year excluding any fiscal stimulus, and reduction in deficit by 2012 projected by the European Commission.

Before joining CEU in 1995, Rostowski taught at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies at the University of London and worked at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), where he also earned his Master’s of Science degree in economics in 1975. Rostowski was named European Finance Minister of the Year in 2009 by The Banker magazine.

The FT 2010 ranking and information can be accessed here.